Patients requiring emergency medical assistance are often transported to a hospital by ambulance or other emergency vehicle such as a helicopter. The patient is normally positioned on a gurney, which is a collapsible bed mounted on a set of wheels. The gurney includes a mattress and a frame supporting the mattress. The frame is adjustable between a flat condition, which corresponds to a laying down position for the patient, and an angled condition which corresponds to a sitting up position for the patient. In the angled condition, the portion of the mattress beneath the patient's legs and pelvic region remains flat, while the portion of the mattress beneath the patient's torso, shoulders, and head angles upwardly from the flat portion.
Should a patient suffer a cardiac arrest during transport to the hospital, it is necessary for emergency medical personnel to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation ("CPR"). CPR involves the application of firm manual thrusts to the patient's chest. A patient receiving CPR must be in a supine position (i.e. laying flat on his or her back). Moreover, application of CPR requires that there be rigid support beneath the patient so that maximum force from the manual thrusts is received by the patients chest rather than absorbed by a flexible structure beneath the patient.
CPR is difficult to administer to a patient on a gurney, because of the soft mattress beneath the patient and also because the gurney frame is not completely rigid and thus deflects slightly in response to the thrusts on the patient's chest. It is normally necessary, therefore, for emergency personnel to slide a rigid back board (normally a single piece of thick, rigid ply wood) between the patient's back and the gurney before CPR is administered.
The back board provides sufficient rigidity for the application of CPR to the patient, but it nevertheless presents some difficulties. For example, there is normally little room in the patient transport section of a helicopter or ambulance for manipulation of a back board, particularly if the patient is connected to an oxygen supply or intravenous medication. Moreover, speedy administration of CPR is critical when a patient has suffered cardiac arrest, and so the time needed to lift the patient and position the back board between the patient and the gurney can be detrimental to the patient's health. It is therefore desirable to provide a means for providing the rigid support beneath a patient that is needed during administration of CPR, that is easily used in a small area such as the back of an ambulance, and that requires a minimal amount of time to prepare for administration of CPR.